Bologna came from behind to beat visiting Monza 2-1 at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, with the decisive goal arriving from the penalty spot in the 59th minute โ a result that extends Raffaele Palladino's side to three consecutive Serie A wins without conceding more than once in any of them.
Monza's Gustavo Varela gave Ivan Juriฤ's side the opener from the spot in the 6th minute, a lead that looked to have settled the visitors into the kind of compact defensive posture that has occasionally served them well this season. It did not hold. Bologna midfielder Tommaso Pobega, already carrying a yellow card from the 23rd minute, equalised in the 33rd with an assist from Juan Miranda โ a lead-taking goal, in effect, given what followed. The equaliser came against the grain of a first half in which Monza had looked to protect their advantage, and it shifted the psychological weight of the match entirely.
The second half produced the moment that settled it. A VAR review confirmed a penalty for Bologna in the 56th minute, and Federico Bernardeschi converted in the 59th to put the hosts ahead 2-1. Monza were awarded their own penalty in the 77th minute โ again confirmed by VAR โ but Patrick Cutrone, introduced as a substitute in the 71st, missed the spot-kick in the 81st. That miss, more than any other single event, closed the match.
Bernardeschi was the player who made the difference when it mattered most. The Bologna midfielder stepped up in the 59th minute with the score level and the match finely balanced, and his conversion proved to be the winner. His contribution was not isolated: Bologna's second-half structure, which saw Palladino make five substitutions in total, was built around protecting that lead once Bernardeschi had established it. The penalty miss that followed only confirmed what the scoreboard already suggested โ that Bologna had done enough.
Monza's evening was shaped by two failures at the penalty spot, though only one was of their own making. Varela's 6th-minute conversion gave them every reason to believe the game plan was working; Cutrone's miss in the 81st, when a goal would have levelled the score, was the moment the points were conceded. Beyond the spot-kicks, Juriฤ's side made five substitutions in search of an equaliser, but the changes could not manufacture the goal they needed. Three defeats in their last three matches, with four goals scored and nine conceded across that run, tells a story of a side that has lost its defensive footing at precisely the wrong moment.
Bologna's form arc gives this result genuine weight. Palladino's side came into the match having won two of their last three, and they now move to three wins from three in that window, conceding just three goals across those fixtures. The broader five-match picture is equally clear: four wins and one defeat, with eleven goals scored and seven conceded. A 4-2 win away at AC Milan and a 2-0 win at Cagliari preceded this result, and the pattern is consistent โ this is a team building momentum through accumulation rather than individual brilliance.
Pobega's goal, Bernardeschi's penalty, and Cutrone's miss: three moments, one result, and a Bologna side that now knows how to win ugly.